The Decameron Project

The Decameron is an influential book written by Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio in the mid-14th Century. He managed to escape the plague in Florence, but the epidemic took the lives of most people in Europe. It was Boccaccio’s survival that inspired him to write The Decameron: a linguistically surprising, form-breaking piece of literature whose narrative is framed by seven women and three men self-quarantining themselves outside of Florence and charging themselves with telling thematic stories of love each night, sans cleaning days and holy days. Ten nights x ten stories = 100 stories. This wonder of literature has influenced writers for centuries, including Chaucer and our own William Shakespeare (his All’s Well That Ends Well is a direct lift).

Inspired by this creativity, courage, and beauty amid isolation and fear, TSC brings you our own Decameron Project — a Facebook Live effort in which our artists bring you classical pieces, inspirational poetry, short performances from Shakespeare, and brief looks at this day in the history of cultural arts and significant events, all of a theme as outlined by Aristotle’s twelve virtues.

Join our TSC actors live every weekday at 10:15 am CST for the newest episode of The Decameron Project on Facebook Live. Can’t catch the live broadcast?

Check out all the episodes here.